Mercruiser 4.3LX kept dying...any ideas?

[brick75]

I've got a 1996 Reinell with a Mercruiser 4.3LX in it. A strange thing happened that I'm hoping someone can advise on. I started it up as usual at the ramp and got prepped to head out. As I was pulling away from the dock, the engine sputtered and died. Started it back up, put it in gear, and about 5 seconds later it sputtered and died again.

Decided I better get myself back to the dock so I wouldn't get stranded downstream. Had to go through the same process (start, go for about 5-10 seconds, then die) about a dozen times to make it back to the dock.

After tying off, I opened the lid to the motor to check things out (not sure what I was looking for, but seemed like the logical thing to do). Anyway, started it back up, and ran it in neutral at about 1/4 throttle for 5 minutes or so without it dying. Since that worked, decided to head back out. Didn't have a problem for the rest of the day. This never happened previously, or since.

Anyone have any idea what may have caused that?

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Mercruiser 4.3LX kept dying...any ideas?

Check the fuel system.Ethanol is messing up a lot of motors.It's delaminating the inside of older hoses causing clogs in the carbs and fuel filter.Check for soft hoses and junk in the filter on the motor.J

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Mercruiser 4.3LX kept dying...any ideas?

More info please. How many times have you used the boat recently? 1st tank of fuel this year? Is it a carburetor engine or fuel injection? Has it had a tune up within the correct interval.
If carburetor, do you know that for a cold start you should put the shift in neutral, pump the gas to nearly full throttle twice, then pull it back to just above idle, before starting. This primes the engine with gas and sets the choke. If you managed to start it without setting the choke that could have kept it from running well til it warmed.
And if it's the first outing of the season, or in a long while, there may have been a need to get more fuel up to the engine before it would run smoothly.
If it was the first start of the year you'd expect to have a bit of rough running especially if you need to burn off the oil that got on the plugs when fogging the motor for last winter's storage.
Or maybe there was a ghost in your machine...and it is fine. Maybe you don't need to do anything, but do check over whatever you can.